Maintaining Your Home and Saving Money

The motto of this post is always, “Always Ask for Discounts”. The worst that will happen is that the person will say no, they even may apologize for not being able to offer a discount! But in most situations, if the person you are dealing with can offer a discount or at least something, they will.

Discount for an Oil Change

This morning I took my car in go get the oil changed. This includes the oil change, a full 100 point check of the car and a car wash for $41. This by itself is not a bad deal compared to what I normally have to pay. We pay over $50 in Canada and we do not get the car wash or the 100 point check, so at $41 this is a really good deal.

I asked if there was a discount for seniors or triple A. He said he was sorry, there were no discounts for these but he could offer me $10 off bringing the price down to $31! Now that is what I call good service that inspires loyalty and saves me money at the same time. It also demonstrates another way to save money. Always ask for a discount!

The person I was dealing with did not have to meet my request. He could have said no and although perhaps a bit disappointed, I still would have been satisfied with the service and the price. I get to wait in a nice air conditioned reception area and they also provided free coffee as well. But the fact that he offered a discount was really the icing on the cake, so to speak.

Ask for a Discount at MacDonald’s

Another example and this applies to seniors. If you are a senior, always ask for a senior discount. At MacDonald’s for example, if you are buying a coffee, you can ask for a senior coffee and they will be happy to oblige you. The coffee is a small cup and is always discounted for seniors. They provide free refills on their coffee as well so having coffee is an even better deal. The funny thing about MacDonald’s is that the price varies across provinces and states. I have paid as much as $.98 for a senior coffee and as low as $.38 for a coffee. It is always less than the regular price, but some locations are really inexpensive.

Always Ask for Discounts – How Much Money can you Save

It obviously depends on your spending habits, but let’s say you save $10 a week by always asking for discount when you make a purchase. If you save $10 a week that adds up to $520 a year. What can you do with $540? A lot is the answer and you might just save a great deal more than that on some deals, which pushes your average way up.

Some people suggest that you not worry about the small stuff and focus on the big deals to save a lot of money. Yes, you can save a lot on large deals, buying a car for example and getting a discount etc on the price. But industry has figured out that it is the small transactions that have really made the cash flow issue for them. The banks nickel and dime you with every transaction. The coffee shops increase their price by a couple of cents and make millions. Same with the restaurants. Any transaction you make a lot of is also where you should focus. Don’t forget the large ones but also focus on the small daily cash flow as well for discounts.

For example at Starbucks, if you have a registered Starbucks card, you can refill your coffee for free. In addition after 12 coffees, you can have any drink of your choice at Starbucks. That’s a good deal and although Starbucks is an expensive place for fancy drinks it is on par with most other places for good coffee. If for example you have a refill 50% of the time and get your free drink, your coffee is working out to less than a dollar on average at Starbucks. Pretty good deal and this is one of the best discounts for coffee next to MacDonald’s.